Don't expect a new basketball coach to be named at McNeese State in the next couple of days.

Athletics Director Sonny Watkins said Tuesday that the university has decided against making an emergency hire that would have allowed the school to make a rapid hire on an interim basis.

McNeese announced July 28 that it would not renew the contract of former head coach Tic Price for the upcoming season. That announcement came 25 days before the start of the fall semester, leaving McNeese little time to hire a coach before the start of school.

"We decided we had enough time to do a full search and still have a new coach in time for the start of school," Watkins said. "We will move quickly, but we can still do the full search."

A full search starts with the position being advertised — it was on both McNeese's Web site and a higher education Web site on Monday — then with a committee being formed, interviews and a final hire.

Watkins said a committee will be formed "in the next four or five days" and will go through applications quickly. He said a coach could be named sometime next week.

"It's important that the student-athletes have leadership and direction," Watkins said. "To have that, we need to have a head coach in place for the start of school."

Meanwhile, one of the leading candidates for the job visited Lake Charles on Sunday.

Northwestern State assistant coach Dave Simmons was in town to meet with university officials. The former McNeese assistant coach expressed interest in the job on Saturday.

Watkins said he expects many more applications.

"I expect this will get a lot of interest," he said.

Labels: coaching changes